Xerox offers new library-oriented models

Xerox recently replaced its library-oriented 20ppm Digital Bookmark copier/printer with a set of four new machines, namely, the WorkCentre Bookmark 40 Copier and Copier/Printer and the WorkCentre Bookmark 55 Copier and Copier/Printer. Not only are these machines faster (at 40ppm and 55ppm), they also have new high-end features in common with Xerox’s latest WorkCentre machines.

There are several features that make these library-oriented. First, the platen has a beveled edge, designed to protect book spines, as you scan one page at a time without having to crush an open book on the platen to get a good copy. Second, the unit has also been designed to be wheelchair-accessible and easy to operate by novice users. In addition, there is an optional coin and bill vending unit and an ID-card reader.

The machines hold 1,200 sheets of ledger paper standard. You can add on a two-tray device that holds 3,600 letter pages. Single-position and multiposition finishers are available. So is a fax option.

The Copier/Printers include PCL and PostScript, a powerful processor, and a hard drive. They also support (optionally) scanning, including Xerox’s SmartSend scan workflow software. The Copier/Printer supports Xerox’ EIP (Extensible Interface Platform).

This specialized unit is aimed at a very specific market segment, primarily libraries. It’s a powerful machine with a good array of options.

Xerox Green Survey

In time for Earth Day, a recent survey by Xerox asked US office workers about the "non-green” practices in their offices. According to Xerox, the biggest gripes about companies’ lack of environmental awareness were::

* mindless printing resulting in abandoned pages at the printer (40 percent)
* leaving lights on in unused offices (37 percent)
* lack of recycling bins (33 percent)
* excessive air conditioning or heating (29 percent)
* wasteful use of paper products, such as plates and cups (27 percent)
* co-workers who don't recycle (27 percent)
* co-workers who print single-sided instead of double-sided documents (24 percent).

The survey also noted that environmental awareness is often a function of age, where younger employees tend to be more green-oriented. It also noted that women tend to be more eco-conscious than men.

It’s interesting that many of these issues have to do with printing, an area where users themselves have some control over the waste.

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New Xerox branding

Xerox, which five years ago was close to the brink, has made an amazing recovery, thanks to an impressive stream of fine new products and a streamlined business model. But Xerox’s logo and branding have remained essentially unchanged for decades.

Now Xerox announced a new logo and with it a new brand strategy. As Richard Wergan, director of worldwide brand at Xerox, has said: "The new logo is meant to disrupt the mental model of Xerox as just a copier company."

The new logo has a more rounded, softer font, along with a graphic icon that, it appears, signifies Xerox’s global reach. Brand is an important part of the mix, and Xerox’s had stagnated, in spite of its record of innovation. As a BusinessWeek article (“Xerox Gets a Brand Makeover”, 1/7/08) notes:

Xerox, despite the ubiquity of its brand, operates at a brand-building disadvantage to rivals like Canon, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and Toshiba in that those brands have strong consumer franchises to buttress their business-to-business images. "The research shows that this gives our competitors an advantage in communicating innovation and modernity," says Wergan.

Xerox opens solid ink factory

Xerox sales of its solid ink office printers is doing so well that they’ve opened a new $24 million plant to make the crayon-like solid ink sticks. The new Oregon-based facility, according to Xerox, increases the company’s solid ink manufacturing capacity tenfold.

This seems to be a sign that Xerox’s campaign to push its color printers, especially its Phaser 8860 line, is doing well. The 8860 offers remarkably low costs per page for both color and black-and-white. Xerox also promotes the fact that the solid ink produces far less waste than toner-solutions, and that its lower heat requirements cut power use.

We’ve long thought that Xerox would extend the solid ink technology, one of the company’s biggest advantages, both up and down the product line, perhaps even into the copier market. The new plant may be an indication that’s what is in the cards, and the modern, high-capacity factory may allow Xerox to get decent margins, even with the lower cost per page.

Xerox declares a dividend

It’s a mark of Xerox’s progress away from the brink that the company today announced that it would start paying dividends again, after a six-year hiatus. The dividend is small enough (4.25 cents per share as the stock is worth around $19 a share), but it is hopeful sign for the company.

In addition, Moody’s recently raised the company’s bonds up one notch. Xerox’s bonds made it out of the junk category to investment grade only this year.

The Bloomberg News report gives the details:
Chief Executive Officer Anne Mulcahy is raising revenue by adding color products that print, copy, scan and fax. Color pages are five times more profitable than black-and-white prints. The company has introduced 18 color devices this year. Xerox boosted operating cash flow to $1.5 billion this year, and said it will increase to $1.6 billion in 2008.”

Congrats to Xerox for its amazing recovery.

Color laser printers – down, down, up!

We’ve been looking back at issues of the Better Buys for Business Color Laser Guide, and are struck by the amazingly rapid changes in the market.

First, we looked at some typical models from major vendors in 2002. All of these models are letter/legal-size printers and come network-ready. Note that tandem color printers, those that ran at or near the same speed in color and black-and-white, were just coming on the market. These printers are all suitable for small workgroup use and they are pretty representative. At this point, there were very few printers that could print faster than 20ppm in color.

Vendor	Product	Speed	Street price	Est. cost per page
Brother	HL-2400CeN	16ppm black/ 4ppm color	$1,999	2.7 cents (black)/ 10.6 cents (color)
Hewlett-Packard	Color LaserJet 4550 N	16ppm black/ 4ppm color	$2,369	2.2 cents (black)/ 12.7 cents (color)
Lexmark	C750n	20ppm black/ 20ppm color	$3,399	1.4 cents (black)/ 8.9 cents (color)
OKI	C72000n	20ppm black/ 12ppm color	$2,279	1.9 cents (black)/ 9.5 cents (color)
Xerox	Phaser 750N	16ppm black/ 4ppm color	$1,999	1.9 cents (black)/ 9.5 cents (color)

Now we’ll look at some parallel models from our upcoming 2007 guide. Note that there are many more models available, and lots of very speedy tandem models, running at 40ppm and faster in color. These models are again small workgroup-oriented, network-ready printers.

Vendor	Product	Speed	Street price	Est. cost per page
Brother	HL-2700CN	31ppm black/ 8ppm color	$450	3.3 cents (black)/ 13.4 cents (color)
Hewlett-Packard	Color LaserJet 3600n	17ppm black/ 17ppm color	$1,199	2.2 cents (black)/ 12.0 cents (color)
Lexmark	C532n	24ppm black/ 22ppm color	$499	1.4 cents (black)/ 9.8 cents (color)
OKI	C6000n	24ppm black/ 20ppm color	$700	2.6 cents (black)/ 16.3 cents (color)
Xerox	Phaser 6180/N	26ppm black/ 20ppm color	$500	2.4 cents (black)/ 12.2 cents (color)

Two things are noticeable. First, and most obviously, the staggering drop in unit prices along with a major increase in color printing speed. Second, there’s an overall rise in cost per page for these lower-priced units. Note that the most moderate prices belong to the HP models, which has a far higher price tag than the others.

Conclusion: The decline in prices has been countered by a general increase in costs. And as, color printers get faster and users print even more pages in color, the lower unit prices are an enticement for users to buy more and more machines and eventually high-cost toner.